Monthly Progress Update: APD Expands Social Media Use to Meet CASA Requirements
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Do you ever have a question for police, but you don’t want to call 505-242-COPS? Maybe you’ve never talked to an officer directly, or you’re unable to attend a Community Policing Council meeting? Now, you can get your policing questions answered with the click of a mouse.
The Albuquerque Police Department has opened its messaging functions on both Facebook and Twitter and is receiving approximately 250 direct messages via social media each month. Messages vary from tips reporting the whereabouts of wanted subjects, to possible criminal activity, inquiries concerning certain APD tactics and even kudos.
Now, the Department is launching #TuesdayCopTalk on Twitter. On the first Tuesday of each month, members of the department will answer questions and listen to the community’s concerns live on Twitter. You can ask your own questions, or follow along with the conversation, by using the hashtag #TuesdayCopTalk and by following APD on Twitter @ABQPOLICE. The Department’s Twitter feed is also available for non-Twitter users on APD’s website: www.cabq.gov/police. There anyone can view the conversation as it happens.
APD will launch its very first #TuesdayCopTalk:
TOMORROW – TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH
3:30 P.M. – 4:30 P.M. (each month APD will change the time of #TuesdayCopTalk to reach different audiences)
Paragraph 260 of the Department’s Settlement Agreement states, “APD shall develop a Community Outreach and Public Information program in each Area Command.” Social media outreach through Facebook, Twitter, Nextdoor.com and individual area command websites (i.e. www.northeastareacommand.com) is one of the components being used to meet this requirement. Recent analytics show dynamic growth in the use of these mediums. The Department reaches nearly 2 million people each month through social media. Followers on APD’s Facebook jumped from 24,000 and zero direct messages in April of 2015, to more than 40,000 current followers. APD was also named Albuquerque’s best Twitter page two years in a row by Albuquerque the Magazine and has seen an increase in followers from 20,000 in April of 2015 to now 56,000.